Foundling
by Hiiraeth
Summary: The matron always tells him he's a foundling. He's not sure what that means, exactly. All the other orphans lost their parents to war, famine or illness. Their nightstands are filled with photographs, their hearts filled with names and love. Sakumo doesn't know what to think- he has no photographs or names and holds very little love in his heart.
1. Heart

**Chapter 1. Heart**

* * *

><p><strong>Age 5.<strong>

The matron always tells him he's a foundling.

She's a kindly woman, rose-cheeked and chubby around the waist. To the children in the orphanage, she's the closest thing to a mother they have.

Sakumo isn't sure what a foundling is. Matron's explained it to him, but it seems to make so little sense. All the other orphans lost their parents to war, famine or illness. Their nightstands are filled with photographs, their hearts filled with names and love.

Sakumo doesn't know what to think- he has no photographs or names. All he knows is that they left him one day and never came back. He holds very little love in his heart.

When the potential foster parents come to look at them, his lips curve into a smile but his eyes do not.

He's a cute kid, with hair like a thundercloud and large, dark eyes. Matron doesn't understand why no one picks him. One day he overhears her as she asks someone- they say his eyes are too empty.

He isn't sure what that means, either.

xXx

Sakumo isn't really that different from the other children, he thinks. He likes to play tag or hide and seek. The latter is his favourite, because he always wins. It's so easy to him- each child has a scent of their own, so all he has to do is close his eyes and stick his nose up in the air. No one else plays it that way, which seems strange to him. It's not until later that he learns they can't.

They introduce him to a woman named Inuzuka Tomoko. She's a woman in her sixties, all the way from Konoha. She brings a pair of old dogs, their coats matted from the journey. Her eyes are sad, just like Sakumo's. Perhaps that's why he likes her. She visits him almost every day and always brings one of her dogs. He loves their fur and smell, and most of all, their eyes; he's never seen such lively ones.

One day they sting his arm with a needle and draw blood. He's not sure why. Tomoko has a band-aid on her arm, just like his own. He asks her why and she bursts into tears.

She tells him she had a son once; a strong, young man who could find anyone by smell, no matter where they were. He disappeared five years ago and not even the Inuzuka could find him again.

She tells Sakumo she's not his grandmother, but she'd kind of hoped she was.

He doesn't understand what it has to do with the blood, but she says it was the only way to find out. She doesn't stop crying, but she does stop visiting him.

xXx

The next visitor comes in the form of a ninja. Sakumo can tell by the way Matron tenses when he enters the building. The shinobi towers over her, all wide shoulders and sharp eyes. His hair is dark and spiky, and there's an x-shaped scar on his chin. Sakumo blinks at him owlishly, more curious than afraid.

The strange man makes all the orphans hold a small green leaf. He tells them all to press the leaf to their foreheads and focus with all their might on that exact spot.

Sakumo closes his eyes and does as he is told.

After almost five minutes of focusing, the man tells them to take their hands away. Some of the children laugh at the weird ritual and bend down to pick up their fallen leaves.

Sakumo doesn't open his eyes. His hands are at his sides, but the leaf is still clinging to his skin.

The man smiles and points at him. "That one." He says.

Matron sighs sadly and nods.

xXx

Konohagakure is much larger than the village Sakumo grew up in. The gates loom over them, even taller than the tall shinobi. His name is Danzou, he explains, and he is going to turn Sakumo into a shinobi.

Sakumo knows what shinobi are, of course. Ninjas are the first thing on any child's mind when someone says 'hero'. So he smiles and nods and feels like finally, he may be going home. He reaches out and grabs Danzou's hand. It's much larger than matron's, the skin dry and calloused where matron's had always been sticky and wet. But it's warm, and although Danzou's eyes widen in surprise, he doesn't let go until they're inside the village gates.

xXx

* * *

><p>xXx<p>

**Snow Country, Six Years Ago.**

The snow crunches beneath Sayuri's boots as she walks towards the small cave. Its entrance would not have stood out against the darkness of the night, were it not for the glow of the campfire. She stops momentarily, cold blue eyes fixed on it. She hesitates for a moment, then steps forward.

Inside the cave the temperature is much better- the wind is reduced to a distant howl, and snow and wind no longer reach her here. She takes her fur-lined hood down and shakes her head, freeing her silver hair from its confines. The snow-glasses come down next, and then her snow-covered overcoat. She tosses the last two in the corner.

A quick look to the other side of the campfire confirms that her prisoner is still unconscious. She drops the freshly killed snow hare next to the fire, then slumps down next to it. The heat of the fire instantly warms her chilled bones. The hare had been a tricky kill, its agility and sure-footedness in the thick snow providing a real challenge for the kunoichi. The smell of blood still clings to its carcass- it'll make a fine meal. Sayuri pulls a knife from her fur boot and grabs the rabbit to skin it.

The man stirs. Sayuri's fingers clench around the blade's handle, eyes flicking over to him. He groans and his eyes blink open. In the orange light she can't tell their exact colour- just that they are dark.

"What-" He groans again and pushes himself up on an elbow.

"Where am I?" He croaks.

Sayuri looks back down at her rabbit and continues skinning it. His first response is tranquil- that was good, but she'll keep an eye out.

"Land of Snow," She replies curtly.

"I- I know that. Where's- Where in the Land of Snow?" He pushes himself up further. The metal plate on his headband glints in the light. She'd seen it earlier- he is a Konoha shinobi.

"This cave." She says

"Well, aren't you a talkative one," He drawls. He rolls onto his back with a sigh.

She looks back at him, quietly staring him down. He was unusual. Captured by a strange shinobi, yet his response is not to attack her?

"I can sense your chakra," He says, as though reading her mind. "And I recognize your face. You're that Shirogane Sayuri, aren't you? I saw you in the Bingo book,"

She grimaces. Even in Konoha? Kumogakure was becoming desperate.

"Then why are you here, if not to hunt me down?" She snaps at him.

"Ah- serendipity," He smiles. "A chance meeting, if you will,"

"Just tell me already,"

A sigh. "Mission, of course. Nothing to do with you,"

She recognizes a lie when she hears one.

"Yet so ill-prepared. If not for me, you'd have frozen to death," She snaps, pulling the last of the skin off of the hare. She guts it quickly and pulls out its innards. She feels the slightest hint of satisfaction at his disgusted grimace.

"Is that why my wrists are bound?" He grins rakishly.

"I saw your headband. Couldn't take any chances."

"Makes sense. My name is-"

"I didn't ask you for your name."

"Yet I want to give it to you." Another grin.

What a pig. "How generous,"

"Sheer Konoha charm, m'lady,"

"Shut up."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**I've been meaning to write about Sakumo for ages now. He's always been a favourite of mine; even with what little we know of him, he strikes me as an intriguing character. I hope to explore his character and family history in this story. Expect drabble-style chapters about several different phases in his life.**

**For reference, I imagine Sakumo is roughly 5 years older than the Sannin. That would make him roughly 28 when his son is born.**

**As for the section about Sayuri and the Konoha man; all will be explained.**

**I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review if you did, I'd really appreciate it.**


	2. Konoha

**Chapter 2. Konoha**

* * *

><p><strong>Age 9<strong>

xXx

Konohagakure is so much larger than the village Sakumo grew up in. He hasn't seen Danzou-san once in a span of four years. To Sakumo's young mind it seems almost impossible for two people to never run into one another, but this village is filled with too many streets and buildings for him to count.

He spends his days running through them, letting his nose lead him. With so many people, there are thousands of smells- and he wants to learn them all. The market smells best with its many different types of food, though on warm days the stall vendors reek of sweat. The Hyuuga compound smells of mint and tea when he passes it, the civilian district a myriad of smells, the Uchiha district of freshly baked bread and charred fish.

(He avoids the Yamanaka shop- the one time he went in he almost threw up from the overwhelmingly sweet stench, though the friendly cashier's smile was almost enough to make him go back.)

One day he strolls over the market when he smells a familiar mixture of dog and leather. He chases the smell through the village and finds himself standing in front of the Inuzuka compound. He remembers Inuzuka Tomoko and feels an odd ache in his chest.

He turns away quickly.

He visits the compound several times that week, but never dares to go in. On the day he decides not to return, a hand on his shoulder stops him. He turns to see a young girl of perhaps thirteen with wild dark hair and eyes, and the same tattoos on her cheeks that Tomoko had.

She smiles at him. "Where are you going, kid? Wouldn't you like to come in? You've been standing outside for far too long,"

Her name is Ran. She smells of dog food and leather, and he thinks that, perhaps, he's found his first friend.

xXx

The academy teaches Sakumo to write things other than his name. He finds he enjoys the experience of setting strokes on paper- ink transformed into meaning has its own brand of magic. He writes slowly, but when he does not even the other children can break him out of his concentration.

In his too-big and too-quiet apartment, Sakumo sits down and reads the books his teacher gives him. He reads almost non-stop, pausing only to visit the Inuzuka girl or go back to class. In class he has no friends. He desires to learn _more and more,_ but his peers only seem interested in playing. Sakumo wonders why one would play tag if there is the possibility of diving into books that can transport you to _different worlds_.

Ran laughs when he tells her about it, but she doesn't joke or judge. Instead she takes him out to the bookshop and buys him a book- it smells like nothing he's ever smelt before, and he touches its cover almost reverently. He's never felt quite so grateful in his life. When they say goodbye again, he accidentally calls her 'Ran-nee-san'. She grins and the next time they see each other, he is suddenly 'Little brother'. It's the best thing anyone's ever said to him.

He doesn't think about his parents much these days. Ran is family, now.

xXx

The next time he sees Shimura Danzou, Sakumo has just tied a brand new forehead protector around his skull. All the graduates stand in a row as the jounin senseis list off their names and divide them in teams.

Much to his surprise, Sakumo graduates at the top of the class. There's some envious muttering when their academy teacher praises Sakumo for his diligence and talent, but a few of the children smile and congratulate him instead.

Shimura Danzou looks satisfied too, and in a way that makes Sakumo feel proud of himself. Danzou was the man who'd taken him here, after all.

A moment later, the reason for Danzou's satisfaction is revealed when Sakumo's name is said alongside his in a single breath- they will be teacher and student. Sakumo is so delighted by it he doesn't even hear the names of his teammates.

xXx

Like most Shinobi related business, genin life is a breeze for Sakumo. His teammates are an Uchiha girl named Michiyo and a blonde haired boy who goes by Ibara Natsume. Neither of them like Sakumo very much, but they put up with him and watch his back, so he doesn't mind.

Danzou is a tough teacher and drills them all relentlessly. He devices clever traps to try and trick them and doesn't go easy on them in fights. They're nine years old but they come home from training with bruises all over their bodies.

But that's okay, because his friend-sister Ran says some of the other kids go out on missions and don't come back at all.

xXx

On their first mission out of the village, Ibara Natsume almost dies and Uchiha Michiyo returns home with eyes that blaze scarlet.

They look at Sakumo differently now. After all, he was the one who killed the enemy shinobi in the end. They smile and wave when they go their separate ways in the village, Natsume a little stiffly, Michiyo with much abundance and pride.

Danzou-sensei congratulates him on a job well done and disappears into the shadows again, as he is wont to do.

Sakumo stays and watches as they go back to their homes and families. Then he goes back to his empty-quiet apartment and cries for the first time in his life, remembering panicked eyes and the overwhelmingly filthy smell of blood. He pulls his duvet around him and dreams the warm heavy cloth curled around him is an embrace.

xXx

* * *

><p>xXx<p>

**Land of Snow, 10 Years Ago**

"Why did you keep me alive?" The Konoha shinobi asks that night.

Sayuri bites into her part of the hare. The meat is juicy and blessedly hot, warming her throat and stomach as she swallows it down.

She thinks of her little brother, lips blue when she'd found him.

"Just eat, would you?"


	3. Kind

**Chapter 3. Kind.**

* * *

><p><strong>Age 10<strong>

Sakumo is ten years old when the second Hokage is killed in an ambush. It's one of those times where everyone who was alive at the time will remember where they were when they first heard about it. Tobirama Senju had not been a young man anymore, but he'd still been strong- certainly no one in the village could match him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen returns to Konoha wide-eyed and just a little bit stunned, Tobirama's seal of succession clenched in pale-knuckled fists. Shimura Danzou comes home with a bitter sneer on his face that will remain there until the day he dies.

He becomes an even harsher teacher, too. He pitches his students against each other, even when Natsume can no longer keep up with his teammates. Michiyo is quick and deadly, three _tomoe_ spinning in each sharingan, and deadly fire ninjutsu to back it up. And Sakumo..

It's around this time that Sakumo figures he might me something of a prodigy.

He's only been learning ninjutsu for three years, but he can already call upon lightning without handseals. It's as much a part of him as the colour of his hair.

He outpaces even Michiyo with her quick eyes and hands. He runs circles around the few bandits they encounter on missions and paralyzes them with his chakra before they even know he's there.

Danzou-sensei explains those with lightning-natured chakra tend to be naturally fast, just as wind users are naturally agile and earth users filled with endurance.

The only real problem is that his body is small and thin compared to theirs. So Danzou-sensei gives him a _tanto_ and says

"This will help."

xXx

The next day, Sakumo is told to show up at the training grounds outside of their regular hours. He is asked to bring his tanto and does so obediently.

Danzou-sensei doesn't show up, but a strange man with a few days' worth of stubble and black hair pulled into a ponytail does. He's carrying a katana on his back and roughly explains he'll be Sakumo's new teacher.

His name is Karasu, and he breaks Sakumo's brand new _tanto_ into a thousand pieces with the first blow they exchange.

xXx

"You know what your problem is?" Uchiha Michiyo says scathingly. "You're just too damn nice for your own good,"

Sakumo shrugs a little. His head is still throbbing from the blow to his head, and his arms are being swathed in bandages by a medic.

"You could have easily made champion in this tournament, y'know," His Uchiha friend continues. "If you'd just struck that guy doesn't even deserve being made chuunin, and everyone knows it."

Sakumo doesn't really care either way. He remembers the feel of flesh underneath his tanto, and remembers his opponents frightened eyes.

It's one thing to hurt a stranger from a strange place, but to hurt a child who has grown up in the same streets as him is entirely different. Michiyo is right. It would have been easy to win the tournament. It's just that Sakumo hadn't _wanted to._

Michiyo stands up abruptly and bows at the waist. "Hokage-sama!" She squeaks, and Sarutobi Hiruzen enters the building.

He asks Michiyo to leave and sits on the edge of Sakumo's bed. He is a small, slight man in his early twenties, with a friendly face and warm eyes. Not at all as Sakumo had imagined when he'd first heard of the so-called _God of Shinobi_.

Sarutobi give him a gentle smile and ruffles Sakumo's stormcloud hair.

"You did good, you know. No matter what they say." He says.

Sakumo blinks and wants to ask _why_, but he stops at the last moment. Sarutobi's face is illuminated by the sunlight filtering through the window, highlighting premature wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. He is the kind of man who laughs a lot, and Sakumo cannot help but think that that alone is why people should follow him.

"For a shinobi, strength is everything." Sarutobi says. "But you know what? Kindness is a strength, too."

He pulls a chuunin vest from behind his back and hands it to Sakumo. "Congratulations, Chuunin-san," He says, and leaves again.

Sakumo's grin threatens to split his face apart.

xXx

Karasu pulls up his nose when Sakumo gushes to him about Sandaime's words.

"I believed that once," He grunts. "But life taught me differently,"

xXx

* * *

><p>xXx<p>

**Eleven years ago**

Her knife cuts through his bindings effortlessly.

He smiles and she tenses, expecting an attack.

"Thank you," He says instead. "I appreciate it. My hands were starting to feel numb,"

She looks at him for a moment. He has a lop-sided smile and dimples in his cheeks. There's a few days' worth of dark stubble there, too.

"Just go," She says.


	4. Love

**Chapter 4. Love**

* * *

><p><strong>Age 14.<strong>

Sakumo is fourteen, and he's never been this popular before. He's a handsome teenager with dark eyes and hair like moonlight, an easy smile and a pleasantly deep voice. The girls think he's _fantastic. _

But Inuzuka Ran still calls him _geek_ and _dork _and Michiyo pretends to vomit when someone mistakes him for her boyfriend, so in the end nothing really changes.

xXx

Michiyo and Natsume are chuunins like Sakumo, so when the Second Great Shinobi War breaks out the three of them are deployed. Danzou-sensei hasn't shown himself to them since their promotions, but they occasionally hear his name mentioned by other chunin. Sakumo isn't sure why, but it's always accompanied by a sneer.

Sakumo is injured in the very first week at the frontlines and wakes up bathing in cold sweat two weeks later, only to hear the chunin he was trying to protect was not as lucky as him. He looks at his brand new scars and wonders what the point of them is, if he got them protecting someone who was already dead. Ran, who is there as well, gives him a weary smile and tells him that at least he tried. It's not enough.

Karasu-sensei shows up a few weeks later. His katana is covered in blood and his face is colder than Sakumo has ever seen it before. He beckons Sakumo in the middle of battle and leads him on a long and exhausting charge into enemy lines. Sakumo follows his teacher's example as well as he can, _tanto_ swinging left and right as though he was hacking his way through thick vines. He tries to forget it's people, instead.

At some point he sees a Kumo shinobi channelling chakra through his blade. Two days later, Sakumo has worked out how to do it himself. Now his blade glows white as he enters the fields and opponents are starting to keep away.

xXx

His platoon gets permission to visit a nearby town not long afterwards. There's a festival going on, and all the shinobi make an effort to wear their nicest clothes. Some of them end up going in their spare uniforms, the only outfits not tarnished with blood. Sakumo himself ends up in someone's old (and oversized) nightshirt and his uniform's pants. He looks like an idiot, but he doesn't care.

Michiyo has borrowed a dress and looks much prettier than he remembers her to be. She looks for Sakumo and just as they've found each other, a teenage couple comes by snogging each other senseless.

There's an awkward moment and an even more awkward kiss behind the dango stall, after which Sakumo and Michiyo both decide to never try again because _wow_, who'd have thought it'd be that slimy?

Sakumo smiles as she searches for their blond teammate, and makes his way up onto a roof. He watches the festival goers and marvels at their careless joy when a war is going on only a few miles from here. He touches a hand to his lips and decides not to fall in love.

A few weeks later he watches one of the older jounin's break apart when she's told her husband has been killed, and thinks he's made a good decision.

Ran shakes her head when he explains it to her, and says that you can't choose who you love. Sakumo disagrees; he loves Michiyo and Natsume and Ran and Danzou-sensei because he wants to, not because they overwhelmed him with their virtues. He gives Ran a sceptical look and she just sighs.

Karasu-sensei gives him a weary look and tells him it's the stupidest thing he's ever heard. Sakumo doesn't love Karasu-sensei.

xXx

**Age 15**

He's fifteen years old and Ran's blood is all over him. She's nineteen and called the most talented Inuzuka of her generation, but her dog companion lies slain at her feet and there's a katana through her chest. Sakumo chokes on a sob and asks her not to go.

His sister frowns a little and shakes her head, and tells him not to be so stupid about love.

Behind him, Danzo sighs and tells him to 'come along already, she's done for anyway,' and it's the first moment he suspects he might not love Danzo-sensei, after all.

Karasu appears as he always does when Sakumo needs him, and together they sit and watch as the light leaves Ran's eyes. Karasu places a heavy hand on his shoulders as he grieves, and awkwardly tells him that it'll be alright. But it won't be, because Sakumo's sister has just died and now they have to dispose her body because they're in enemy territory.

And yet.. He thinks perhaps Ran was right about love when Karasu-sensei awkwardly proposes to stay behind and bury her for him. He shakes his head, because as much as he doesn't want to love Ran right now to make the pain go away, he can't. He loves her even when they activate the _katon _jutsu that destroys her body.

xXx

**Fifteen years ago**

"You know," He says on the third day of their acquaintance. "I probably couldn't have killed you anyway,"

She jumps up, startled. She thought she'd lost him in the ice canyons.

He smiles that lop-sided smile of his and taps his nose. "My nose is better than any dog's," he says.

Her eyes widen. Konoha's tracking squads are well known- and deservedly feared. "Even out in the snow?" She asks.

"Especially in the snow. You're the only other human around for miles and miles," He sighs and sits next to her. "You're not getting rid of me so easily."

She sighs, too.


	5. Interbellum

**Chapter 5: Interbellum.**

**Age 18**

When he's eighteen years old, Sakumo faces the Tsuchikage on the battle field and almost wins. They'd run into each other by accident, and Onoki of the Scales hadn't expected much of the slender young man- that is, until Sakumo called upon lightning and almost beheaded him.

The Tsuchikage laughs throughout their fight and compliments Sakumo on his bravery afterwards, when they are both panting and bleeding. Onoki is about a decade older than the Hokage, doesn't reach beyond 4'3 and can disintegrate people with a touch. Sakumo is eighteen, almost 6 foot tall and the best swordsman Konoha has had in generations.

The fight almost ends in a draw. Sakumo assumes it's because of this that Onoki laughs, afterwards, and then does not kill him.

"You're quite something," The small man rasps. "Quite something. I can respect your courage,"

Sakumo does not understand why the Tsuchikage would let someone like him go until a week later, when a shaky alliance is signed between Iwa and Konoha.

Sakumo is still being treated for his wounds when his friend Michiyo tells him they're going home for the first time in years.

xXx

They return to the village as heroes. The war is still raging but the front in Kusagakure, in between the land of Fire and Earth, has dissipated. Michiyo disappears in the crowds with a handsome, wildly blushing Uchiha man and Sakumo grins as he watches them go.

Karasu puts a hand on Sakumo's shoulder, squeezes softly, and leaves. The lines in his face have deepened and there are grey hairs threaded through the black. Sakumo doesn't see him at all in the following weeks, but concern pushes him to search for the man.

He finds Karasu in a dingy bar, drunk off his face. He reeks of alcohol and old sweat. Sakumo lifts him up- when did Karasu get so light?- and brings him to his small bachelor's apartment. In the apartment he sees bottles strewn all over the floor. He doesn't mention it.

Karasu wakes up briefly when Sakumo places him on the bed, opening hazy dark eyes. "Y're a good kid, y'know," He mumbles. "Don't turn out like me."

Sakumo doesn't quite understand it but there's an ache in his chest that won't go away.

xXx

He's given leave for a few weeks before he goes back to the front. The Third Hokage invites him over for tea. Deeply honoured he goes visit only to find the man surrounded by children.

They are perhaps thirteen years old; an obstinate blonde girl who is apparently Shodaime's granddaughter (Her temper makes it hard to believe), a loud white-haired boy with a voice like thunder (particularly in its volume), and a sleek-haired boy with golden eyes and paper white skin (he is eerily reminiscent of a snake).

They study him critically and the white-haired one says there's _no way this beanstalk almost beat the Tsuchikage_. Sakumo smiles at him and says he doesn't quite believe it himself either. This earns him a pout and a jeer, and there's really no way to predict that the white-haired boy will one day be one of his closest friends.

The dark haired one is called Orochimaru, and like Sakumo he is a prodigy. The boy asks him for a spar, but Sakumo refuses. The boy is a chunin with some experience, but Sakumo is a jounin with his most recent battle scars still itching. It would not be good to unleash that on a child.

Tsunade, at least, is a little bit awed by his looks- or so he assumes- but when he refuses her offer to spar as well, she tries (and almost succeeds!) to punch him in the face. He offers to watch her train instead, which she gladly accepts, and he spends an afternoon watching her and the boys tear down an entire training field. They're frighteningly talented, and it is Sakumo who is in awe of them by the end of the day.

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiles at him and says they're quite a lot like Sakumo when he was that age. Sakumo watches Jiraiya attempt to kiss Tsunade mid-battle, and emphatically disagrees.

xXx

Sakumo encounters Danzou shortly before he is sent back to the front. The man is accompanied by a short ANBU operative, and asks Sakumo to join something called ROOT. Sakumo considers the proposition briefly, but then the ANBU opens his mouth and reveals his voice hasn't even broken yet.

Sakumo levels his former teacher with a disappointed look, and returns to the frontlines a week later.

* * *

><p><strong>19 Years Ago<strong>

Sayuri almost chokes on laughter, later that day. When she finally stops her cheeks hurt. A stupefied silence falls over them.

"That's the first time you've laughed in a long while, isn't it?" He asks gently. He is kind enough not to ask why.

She nods. He deserves a bit of information.

That pun had been the worst and yet most hilarious thing she'd heard in _years._

A week in, they run into a group of hunter nin from Kumogakure.

Her ninjutsu is unparalleled, lightning, wind and water howling through the air as she rips them apart.

He is a blur of steel and blood; the best swordsman she's ever seen.

He kisses her afterwards. He tastes of blood and sweat, but she finds she doesn't really mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: Still hanging in there? I think I'll be able to wrap this story up in roughly 9 chapters total. Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you enjoyed it!<strong>


	6. Kiyame

**Chapter 6. Kiyame**

Age 21.

Uchiha Michiyo gets married in the spring. Her husband is the always-grinning, always-blushing Uchiha she's been dating for several years now. They're young to be married, but Konoha knows the importance of love in a time of war. The entire Uchiha clan shows up and even Shimura Danzou makes an appearance for his former student, though lately he's been too occupied with his organization to pay them much attention.

Sakumo grins widely as he watches his best friend fumble around with her wedding dress, and helps her into her sandals. She snorts and asks him when he's finally going to get hitched. Their other teammate, Natsume, rolls his one remaining eye and says "Sakumo is far too shy for that," before going off to meet his own girlfriend.

Sakumo blushes and for a moment he and Michiyo remember their first kiss. Sakumo smiles at her, squeezes her hands and wishes her good luck.

xXx

That next week, he's assigned a covert mission with a new partner. He suspects she is ANBU, though she never says- but there's always a twinkle in her heavy-lidded eyes and though she wears a cloth mask, he can tell that she always has a smile for him.

He always has a smile for her, too.

Her name is Hanano Kiyame, and she's the most brilliant person Sakumo has ever met. Her mind is like quicksilver, making connections before anyone else has even begun to grasp the situation. Her parents are civilians and she doesn't have much chakra herself, but she's so fast and so insanely clever that it doesn't really matter; she copes, anyway.

They play shogi on the long evenings where their target is motionless and they have nothing better to do. She beats him soundly the first few times, but takes pity on him and starts handing out advice. By the end of the week, he manages a draw with her. She grins and says he's pretty clever himself.

Two weeks later she almost gets herself killed because while she is fast and clever, she's fragile too. She takes out their target in the process, but Sakumo has to carry her back to Konoha on his back.

He watches her in her hospital bed as she consoles her weeping mother and tells her everything will be fine; she's brilliant at that too, her eyes kind and caring and a smile caressing her lips. It's the first time he sees her face. She's drawn and pale, her dark hair is plastered to her skin and her nose is slightly crooked, but to Sakumo she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

He tells Karasu after. The man laughs, drinks saké and tells Sakumo he's a sentimental fool for believing in love.

xXx

Kiyame becomes a permanent fixture in his life, after that. They start dating and it's awkward and clumsy, but for the first time in years Sakumo remembers Ran and knows she is right; love is a peculiar thing.

Kiyame is quirky and eccentric, reads all the wrong novels and has an embarrassing fondness for soap opera. She likes his hair long so she can thread her fingers through, so he thinks perhaps he should start growing it out. When he suggests it she laughs at him and says he'd never remember to brush it.

Sakumo introduces her to his dogs and when he sees her face light up at the sight of them, he knows he's in love.

* * *

><p><strong>22 years ago:<strong>

Encounters with enemy ninja become more frequent. One day they run into a group of Konoha shinobi and there is a horrifying moment where Sayuri thinks they might recognize her Konoha shinobi and brand him a traitor.

But he is clever, so much cleverer than she'd given him credit for, and he has transformed himself into a non-descript Snow ninja before she's even realized the Konoha shinobi are near.

He is injured in the scuffle that follows, a nasty blow to the shoulder that would have left a lesser man writhing in pain. In her rage Sayuri calls upon a storm and devastates their enemy, intent to leave nothing whole.

His eyes are fearful when he witnesses her power, but the set of his mouth is determined. "They're just doing their job," He argues. "Please come away with me,"

She takes his hand and the storm slowly rages down.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Turns out this story is easy to write now that I have the plot all written out. Thank you all for reading and reviewing! <strong>


	7. Live

**Chapter 7. Live.**

Age 25.

Sakumo marries Kiyame in the summer. Michiyo and her husband are there, as are KIyame's overjoyed parents. Sakumo invited Karasu as well but he only shows up for the party afterwards to drink. Sakumo quells the disappointment by looking into his wife's eyes and grinning like an idiot.

The first few weeks as a married couple are complete bliss. They find a quaint old house near the edge of the village. It has a large porch and a garden with a pond and a tree. Plenty of room for Sakumo's ninken to run around and, they agree with a twinkle in their eyes, potential children too.

For the first time since Sakumo can remember, he doesn't feel so empty anymore.

xXx

But Kiyame doesn't get pregnant in the few peaceful months they share, and their bliss is broken when the fighting near Suna grows worse. Sakumo is a jounin, and a famous one; he is sent to the front without a second's thought. Kiyame is sent to the front near Kusa. They do not see each other for months.

Sakumo garners a new nickname in this period. It's been brewing for some time, but after he kills a couple of vicious puppeteers (a man with hair the colour of blood and his fierce, fierce wife) the White Fang of the Leaf is born. New orders are issued to Sunagakure's shinobi; Flee on sight if you spot Hatake Sakumo.

One person doesn't listen.

Sakumo has only just left for his morning patrol when he senses the shift in the air. He only just dodges the scythe, a few silver hairs cut loose and reflecting the early sunlight. The puppet whizzes over his head and Sakumo splits it apart with his tanto.

He looks up and sees a woman in front of him. She must be in her late forties, her once red hair already fading to dark grey. She wears it in a tight bun. She has a friendly face, Sakumo thinks, but right now it is contorted with rage and grief. IT takes Sakumo a moment, and then he recognizes her from the Bingo book: Sunagakure's Chiyo of the Ten Fingers. Sakumo is grateful that her twin brother isn't alongside her.

The fight is long and exhausting, and it isn't helped by Chiyo's constant accusations. He realizes the red-haired puppeteer from before must have been her child, and cringes at the thought. Killing people is so much easier if you're not confronted with their families.

In the end, Sakumo slices off her arm and knocks her unconscious. He closes her wound on a whim; he cannot help but sympathize with the woman's plight. Perhaps someday she can come back and finish her job. It feels important that he leaves her alive.

It isn't an easy victory; his head feels light and he's bleeding from many wounds. He stumbles back to camp and collapses on the perimeter.

He awakes to find brown eyes blinking at him curiously. Sakumo studies the young woman's face and realizes he knows her from somewhere. "Tsunade," He croaks. She is no longer the little girl, but instead a full-fletched warrior. And a healer.

She gives him a disapproving glare. "Honestly, Sakumo-san. Chiyo's poison almost killed you. You're lucky I was here to save you; I'm the only person who can find the antidote to her concoctions."

She chides him some more but he bears it with patience. He lives, after all. He receives a letter from Kiyame the next day- she's doing well too. A smile creeps up on Sakumo's face and he can bring himself to forget Chiyo's tearstained face for a moment.

xXx

**26 years earlier**

They return to the cave, shivering and afraid, but quickly find solace in each other's warmth. He whispers his name into her ear and she can finally bring herself to call him by it. He's more than just a Konoha Chunin, now.

"You could have gone with them, you know," Sayuri says after, her head on his chest.

He sighs deeply. "I could have," He admits. "But I have so little to live for in that village."

He looks at her and she realizes with a sudden shock that he probably loves her as much as she loves him.

xXx

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Some big revelations coming up next chapter. Only 2 left! Thanks for sticking with me. I may have slightly misjudged the timeline with Chiyo and Sasori's parents here, but otherwise the gap between the previous chapter and the next would have been too big; I had to spice this chapter up to bridge it.<strong>


	8. Name

**Chapter 8. Name**

* * *

><p>Age 29.<p>

In February, Uchiha Michiyo gives birth to a baby boy and dies in the process. The child is called Obito. The child's father is there at the funeral, his eyes empty as he stares at his wife's coffin but oh so filled with love when he looks down at his little boy. Sakumo looks at his best friend's child and sees familiar dark tufts and a chubby face; he looks just like any other Uchiha. Sakumo forces a smile and says the boy looks just like his mother.

Uchiha Obito is orphaned barely a month later when his father is killed at the front. The boy's grandparents whisk him off and Sakumo never hears from him again. He doesn't consider searching him out either. Michiyo has left a hole in his heart.

xXx

September fifteenth of that year is the bright, happy contrast to that fateful February day. Little Kakashi is small even for a new-born, but the doctors assure them he is perfectly healthy. His chakra is strong and, Kiyame jokes, so is his voice. His greatest talent is keeping his parents from falling asleep. Kiyame jokes he'll be a bossy child, later.

It is the greatest joy to Sakumo to watch his wife and son play together, her slender hands running through the boy's thin silver hair. She's the one who named their son; he'd thought it a peculiar name at first, but then Kiyame had explained how scarecrows are protectors of the weak, not objects of ridicule. "Besides, I thought it sounded cute," She adds with a smile as she props the boy up on her lap. Kakashi's face is small and red and his dark eyes are heavy with sleep.

Kiyame is undoubtedly right about the cuteness factor.

xXx

The rest of the year is chaotic. In between feeding and caring for a demanding new-born and fighting a war, Sakumo is utterly exhausted. It is a rollercoaster of emotion; leaving the house to kill ninja only to return and raise a brand new life. Sakumo often finds himself wondering why he should be allowed to return home when so many of his enemies leave orphaned children behind.

xXx

Kakashi is four months old when Kiyame goes out to war again. She still looks too pale to Sakumo, her frame to thin and her smile too brittle. She doesn't want to leave. He doesn't want her to leave, either. But every man, woman and child is needed at the front.

They leave together, hiring a trustworthy retired chunin to look after their son.

They fight side by side now, and it is both the most exhilarating and terrifying thing Sakumo has ever experienced. But he is glad to be there to keep her safe, and vice versa, she is glad to protect his back too.

They're a frighteningly efficient team and it isn't long before their enemies start keeping away; Sarutobi shakes his head and tells them they'll have to split up so they won't be recognized.

Kiyame is the first to nod and smile and accept the order. Her hand clasps around Sakumo's and she drags him to her tent. They have that last evening together, saying everything they need to say and everything they feel; there are no regrets.

"Please," He asks her the next morning, when she pulls on her armour. "Come back."

She doesn't.

xXx

Sakumo carves their names into the stone nearby their house. Ran, Michiyo, Kiyame- his hands shake so badly on the last name that he has to set his knife aside and rush into the house to get away from it all.

He wonders about his parents for the first time in years, and curses them for not being there.

The world has lost its colour without her. Inside the house, her baby cries. Sakumo shakes his head and buries his face into his hands. "Please," he begs his son. "Please, stop crying. I can't do a damn thing about it. I can't do a damn thing. Please."

xXx

**30 years ago**

It all ends a few weeks later. Konoha has sent its jounin after them and Kumo its hunter-nin, and either way there is no more escaping. Sayuri knows he wants to stay with her. She also knows that if he does, he will be killed, either by the Konoha shinobi branding him as a traitor or by one of the many, many dangers that chase her.

She cups his face in her hands and gives him one last smile before the Konoha shinobi's turn the corner and spot them. When they do, she pushes him away from her and shouts as loudly as she can.

"I trusted you! I- you've betrayed me!" She lies. His eyes go wide with confusion and fear, and he shakes his head-

But before he can open his mouth she screams at him one last time and nimbly runs away. The last thing she sees is the betrayal in his eyes, but she cannot go back now; to do so would be to kill them both. Now Konoha will never know the truth of their relationship.

Her Konoha shinobi watches as she leaves. He cannot move.

A Konoha jounin approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder. "Karasu? Are you alright? We'll get her some other time, don't you worry,"

Karasu numbly shakes his head and thinks he is a fool to love her, but he cannot stop himself from doing so.

Sayuri finds out she's pregnant barely two weeks later. The Kumo Hunter nin pick up her trail a few months after that.


	9. Child

**Chapter 9. Child**

30+

Raising Kakashi is both Sakumo's downfall and saving grace. He loves the boy fiercely; like he's never loved anyone before, yet with every move he makes he is afraid he will undoubtedly fail the boy as his parents and subsequent father figures once failed him.

Kakashi is a genius and looks just like Sakumo. The villagers remark how nice it must be to have such a talented child, and that surely Kakashi will grow up to be just as great as his father someday. Sakumo doesn't feel like he's a great person at all, but he smiles and nods and tells himself that Kakashi will be better than him. He has to be.

xXx

Though the great second ninja war has ended, the world is far from peaceful. Sakumo is still sent out to fight and has little time to spend with his son. When he does get home, they spend it reading or training together. Sometimes, if Sakumo is in a good mood, he lifts his son onto his shoulders and climbs the Hokage mountain. There they spend entire evenings and watch the sun go down. Sakumo doesn't talk much on these evenings, but he listens to his boy's rambles and smiles.

Kakashi looks like his father, but his personality is far more like his mother's. He picks up the ugliest pug Sakumo has ever seen when he is four years old, and through some weird trick of nature teaches the mongrel to speak. Sakumo laughs out loud when he witnesses the phenomenon; only Kiyame's son would have the intellect and sheer stubbornness to teach a dog to speak.

Sakumo smiles and pokes the pug, and tells his son the animal would make a great summons.

xXx

Kakashi goes to the academy when he is five years old, and it is at this time that Sakumo realizes his son might just be too brilliant for his own good. This suspicion is confirmed when the boy graduates barely a year afterwards, and shows his brand new headband off with a cocky grin and bold remarks.

Sakumo feels nauseous when he watches his son train with shuriken in the garden and faults himself for encouraging it in the first place. He watches his son hit a bull's eye and runs inside to vomit.

xXx

They still smile together sometimes, but it is not as often. Kakashi's eyes have lost some of their spark- Minato had told Sakumo about the man they watched die the other day. The event is carved into Kakashi's memory.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Kakashi pouts and shakes his head, and clearly wishes Minato hadn't said anything at all. There are tears burning in his eyes and Sakumo can't stand the sight of it. He pulls his boy into an embrace and doesn't let go for a long time.

xXx

When Sakumo is thirty-seven years old, he goes on a mission that will indirectly change the fate of the entire world. He's not aware of it, of course- doesn't know that the effects the mission will have on Kakashi will change a generation.

All he knows is that he cannot leave his teammates to die. So he goes back for them, and when he returns to Konoha with his friends alive, he expects to be praised.

He is not.

xXx

He finds Sakumo in the living room, drunk off his face. He reeks of alcohol and old sweat. Kakashi helps him up- when did he get so strong?- and brings him to his bedroom. In the apartment bottles are strewn all over the floor. His son doesn't mention it.

Sakumo wakes up briefly when Kakashi has helped him on the bed, opening hazy dark eyes. "Y're a good kid, y'know," He mumbles. "Don't turn out like me."

His chest aches, but he can't remember why.

xXx

**37 years ago**

The child is found a few miles from Konoha when a group of patrolling chunin hear his cry. One of them picks the child up and recognizes the poor thing for what he is- a foundling. The boy is once again nameless, has no identity, no family, no past.

Konoha protocol dictates the chunin name the boy and take him to the nearest Konoha orphanage. But first, he needs a name.

"Oh, I know," One chunin smiles. " 'Hatake' for his last name, after the field we found him in, and 'Sakumotsu' as his first name,"

"'Crop'?" His colleague echoes incredulously. "That's a crappy name! At least give him a proper name!'

"Why don't you name him then, since you know everything," The chunin bites back angrily.

"Ah- err, Hatake… Sakumo!"

"That's exactly what I said!"

When Karasu first lies eyes on his son, almost 12 years later, he doesn't recognize him at all.

xXx

**AN: Well, that's it. I hope everything is clear- in case it's not, please do ask! This was a highly experimental story but I greatly enjoyed writing it. I hope the loop structure worked out the way I intended it to. **

**Also, if you've been paying attention you may notice one of the paragraphs in this chapter closely resembles that of an older chapter..**


	10. Bonus

AN: I decided to give you guys the whole story in one piece. Yes, you can find it in the regular chapters, but this might be more convenient!

**Bonus Chapter: The Story of Karasu and Sayuri**

**Part 1.**

The snow crunches beneath Sayuri's boots as she walks towards the small cave. Its entrance would not have stood out against the darkness of the night, were it not for the glow of the campfire. She stops momentarily, cold blue eyes fixed on it. She hesitates for a moment, then steps forward.

Inside the cave the temperature is much better- the wind is reduced to a distant howl, and snow and wind no longer reach her here. She takes her fur-lined hood down and shakes her head, freeing her silver hair from is confines. The snow-glasses come down next, and then her snow-covered overcoat. She tosses the last two in the corner.

A quick look to the other side of the campfire confirms that her prisoner is still unconscious. She drops the freshly killed snow hare next to the fire, then slumps down next to it. The heat of the fire instantly warms her chilled bones. The hare had been a tricky kill, its agility and sure-footedness in the thick snow providing a real challenge for the kunoichi. The smell of blood still clings to its carcass- it'll make a fine meal. Sayuri pulls a knife from her fur boot and grabsthe rabbit to skin it.

The man stirs. Sayuri's fingers clench around the blade's handle, eyes flicking over to him. He groans and his eyes blink open. In the orange light she can't tell their exact colour- just that they are dark.

"Wha-" He groans again and pushes himself up on an elbow.

"Where am I?" He croaks.

Sayuri looks back down at her rabbit and continues skinning it. His first response is tranquil- that was good, but she'd keep an eye out.

"Land of Snow," She replies curtly.

"I- I know that. Where's- Where in the Land of Snow." He pushes himself up further. The metal plate on his headband glints in the light. She'd seen it earlier- he is a Konoha shinobi.

"This cave." She says

"Well, aren't you a talkative one," He drawls. He rolls onto his back with a sigh.

She looks back at him, quietly staring him down. He was unusual. Captured by a strange shinobi, yet his response is not to attack her?

"I can sense your chakra," He says, as though reading her mind. "And I recognize your face. You're that Shirogane Sayuri, aren't you? I saw you in the Bingo book,"

She grimaces. Even in Konoha? Kumogakure was becoming desperate.

"Then why are you here, if not to hunt me down?" She snaps at him.

"Ah- serendipity," He smiles. "A chance meeting, if you will,"

"Just tell me already,"

A sigh. "Mission, of course. Nothing to do with you,"

She recognizes a lie when she hears one.

"Yet so ill-prepared. If not for me, you'd have frozen to death," She snaps, pulling the last of the skin off of the hare. She guts it quickly and pulls out its innards. She feels the slightest hint of satisfaction at his disgusted grimace.

"Is that why my wrists are bound?" He grins rakishly.

"I saw your headband. Couldn't take any chances."

"Makes sense, I guess. My name is-"

"I didn't ask you for your name."

"Yet I want to give it to you." Another grin.

What a pig. "How generous,"

"Sheer Konoha charm, m'lady,"

"Shut up."

**Part 2.**

"Why did you keep me alive?" He asks that night.

Sayuri bites into her part of the hare. The meat is juicy and blessedly hot, warming her throat and stomach as she swallows it down.

She thinks of her little brother, lips blue when she'd found him.

"Just eat, would you?"

**Part 3.**

Her knife cuts through his bindings effortlessly.

He smiles and she tenses, expecting an attack.

"Thank you," He says instead. "I appreciate it. My hands were starting to feel numb,"

She looks at him for a moment. He has a lop-sided smile and dimples in his cheeks. There's a few days' worth of dark stubble there, too.

"Just go," She says.

**Part 4.**

"You know," He says on the third day of their acquaintance. "I probably couldn't have killed you anyway,"

She jumps up, startled. She thought she'd lost him in the icy canyons.

He smiles that lop-sided smile of his and taps his nose. "My nose is better than any dog's," he says.

Her eyes widen. Konoha's tracking squads are well known- and deservedly feared. "Even out in the snow?" She asks.

"Especially in the snow. You're the only other human around for miles and miles," He sighs and sits next to her. "You're not getting rid of me so easily."

She sighs, too.

**Part 6. **

She almost chokes on laughter, later that day. When she finally stops her cheeks hurt. A stupefied silence falls over them.

"That's the first time you've laughed in a long while, isn't it?" He asks gently. He is kind enough not to ask why.

She nods. He deserves a bit of information.

That pun had been the worst and yet most hilarious thing she'd heard in _years.  
><em>

**Part 7. **

A week in, they run into a group of hunter nin from Kumogakure.

Her ninjutsu is unparalleled, lightning, wind and water howling through the air as she rips them apart.

He is a blur of steel and blood; the best swordsman she's ever seen.

He kisses her afterwards. He tastes of blood and sweat, but she finds she doesn't really mind.

**Part 8. **

Encounters with enemy ninja become more frequent. One day they run into a group of Konoha shinobi and there is a horrifying moment where Sayuri thinks they might recognize him and brand him a traitor.

But he is clever, so much cleverer than she'd given him credit for, and he has transformed himself into a non-descript Snow ninja before she's even realized the Konoha shinobi are near.

He is injured in the scuffle that follows, a nasty blow to the shoulder that would have left a lesser man writhing in pain. In her rage Sayuri calls upon a storm and devastates their enemy, intent to leave nothing whole.

His eyes are fearful when he witnesses her power, but the set of his mouth is determined. "They're just doing their job," He argues. "Please come away with me,"

She takes his hand and the storm slowly rages down.

**Part 9**

They return to the cave, shivering and afraid, but quickly find solace in each other's warmth. He whispers his name into her ear and she can finally bring herself to call him by it. He's more than just a Konoha Chunin, now.

"You could have gone with them, you know," Sayuri says after, her head on his chest.

He sighs deeply. "I could have," He admits. "But I have so little to live for in that village."

He looks at her and she realizes with a sudden shock that he probably loves her as much as she loves him.

**Part 10**

It all ends a few weeks later. Konoha has sent its jounin after them and Kumo its hunter nin, and either way there is no more escaping. Sayuri knows he wants to stay with her. She also knows that if he does, he will be killed, either by the Konoha shinobi branding him as a traitor or by one of the many, many dangers that chase her.

She cups his face in her hands and gives him one last smile before the Konoha shinobi's turn the corner and spot them. When they do, she pushes him away from her and shouts as loudly as she can.

"I trusted you! I- you've betrayed me!" She lies. His eyes go wide with confusion and fear, and he shakes his head-

But before he can open his mouth she screams and nimbly runs away. The last thing she sees is the betrayal in his eyes, but she cannot go back now; to do so would be to kill them both. Now Konoha will never know the truth of their relationship.

Her Konoha shinobi watches as she moves away. He cannot move.

A Konoha jounin approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder. "Karasu? Are you alright? We'll get her some other time, don't you worry,"

Karasu numbly shakes his head and thinks he is a fool to love her, but he cannot stop himself from doing so.

Sayuri finds out she's pregnant barely two weeks later. The Kumo Hunter nin pick up her trail a few months after that.

**Part 11:**

The child is found a few miles from Konoha when a group of patrolling chunin hear his cry. One of them picks the child up and recognizes the poor thing for what he is- a foundling. The boy is once again nameless, has no identity, no family, no past.

Konoha protocol dictates the chunin name the boy and take him to the nearest Konoha orphanage. But first, he needs a name.

"Oh, I know," One chunin smiles. " 'Hatake' for his last name, after the field we found him in, and 'Sakumotsu' as his first name,"

"'Crop'?" His colleague echoes incredulously. "That's a crappy name! At least give him a proper name!'

"Why don't you name him then, since you know everything," The chunin bites back angrily.

"Ah- err, Hatake… Sakumo!"

"That's exactly what I said!"

When Karasu first lies eyes on his son, almost 12 years later, he doesn't recognize him at all.


End file.
